Thousands flock to Malacca to honour St Francis Xavier's work

Each year, on the Sunday nearest to Dec 3, thousands of Catholic and non-Christian pilgrims and devotees from all over Malaysia throng the ruins of St Paul’s Church atop St Paul’s Hill, at the centre of Malacca’s Historic City, to celebrate the Feast of St Francis Xavier, a Jesuit priest who had concentrated his missionary work in Asia in the 16th century while devoting the hill as his apostolic work base.

Traditionally, it is the parish church of St. Francis Xavier, built in 1849 in Banda Kaba, that organises the annual feast day celebrations.